Leaders told to bring plans, not speeches to UN climate summit

(Climate Change News, 25 Mar 2019) A landmark conference hosted by Antonio Guterres in September aims to jolt flagging international action on climate change, in line with the latest science.

The UN secretary general is calling on world leaders to bring plans, not speeches to a climate summit he is hosting in September.

Representatives of Antonio Guterres wrote to heads of government last week, urging them to “demonstrate a leap in collective national political ambition and massive low-emission movements in the real economy”.

Climate Home News understands organisers do not intend to give politicians the UN podium for speeches, in a departure from the typical format of such events.

“This summit will be action-oriented,” the note, which was shared with CHN, said. “The deliverables and initiatives that will be showcased need to be implementable, scalable and replicable and have the potential to get us in line with the commitments of the Paris Agreement.”

“I am calling on all leaders to come to New York in September with concrete, realistic plans to enhance their nationally determined contributions by 2020,” the UN chief wrote in an article for the Guardian this month.